Question

Shop for me! Voice Recorder <MP3 player, portable media device>

Asked by: molerner

I'm looking for a cheap solution to handle voice recording. Here are my needs:

1. Cheap- under $125, preferably under $100, shooting for $50-$75- the cheaper, the better
2. Must record to a fairly public format THAT IS NOT wav or flac. Something like MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, APE- basically anything that can be converted to an MP3 using one of the many available programs out there
3. Has a good mic or has a standard jack for one. (I'd rather it be the latter, but because of price it's not something I really expect)
4. Can store at least 7 hours of recording- considering that I don't need very good quality (equivalent of 36Kbps mono), we could get away with 2GB capacity, if a lower quality recording selection is available.
5. Can't be riddled with bugs (I had a bad experience with an infamous COBY player, once)

I don't need it to play music or anything else besides recording.
The reason this question is 500 points is because the requirements are fairly strict. Direct links to retailers would be good. No eBay unless it's an eBay store and a new item.
Thanks!
--Mo

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Asked On
2007-06-17 at 13:49:35ID22639472
Tags

voice

,

mp3

,

recorder

,

portable

,

player

,

CD & MP3 Players

Topics

Home Theater Systems

,

Software MP3 Media Players

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: BarryTicePosted on 2007-06-18 at 11:50:26ID: 19309454

molerner --

I've had a Creative Muvo N200 for more than two years. It has 512 MB of flash in it and acts as an MP3 music player, voice recorder, radio, recorder from radio, and MP3 encoder from a line in. It also works as a thumb drive. I've been VERY happy with it, though admittedly I haven't used it a whole lot as a voice recorder. A few years ago my son used it as a voice recorder to overdub some commentary over a videotape he had made for a school project, and it worked reasonably well for that. I also had my wife's gasterointerologist explain the results of her EGD into it last year so she could hear what he had to say (as she was still snoozing at that point).

The Muvo has been replaced by the Zen Nano in Creative's line, and about a year ago I picked up two 1 GB models virtually identical to mine used on eBay for about $55. Amazon currently has it listed new for $50.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Nano-Plus-Player-Blue/dp/B0009R5KMM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3913747-7012124?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1182192249&sr=8-1

In the Amazon listing, the pic on the left is slightly larger than life-size, on my screen. It runs about 14 hours on a fresh AAA battery. (I use rechargeables, and get less time than that.)

Technically, it may not meet your requirements, as I believe it does record voice to a .wav file (though at a much smaller file size than music). However, there are many quality free products out there that convert .wav to MP3 or OGG if you like, such as CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/). At the moment, I have six albums on my 512 MB player in MP3 format and it still says I have 2 hours of voice recording space available. I seem to recall that, when empty, the 512 MB model shows something like a 14-hour voice recording capacity.

Hope this helps.

-- b.r.t.

 

by: molernerPosted on 2007-06-18 at 12:12:58ID: 19309652

Thanks BRT- some counterpoints

Even if the wav file is smaller than music, it doesn't really suit my needs because the audio quality has to be good enough to be decent for solo singing, yet leave a small footprint so that I don't have to make constant trips to the computer. We'll be handing these out to a couple of people, and we'd rather not have to reel them in every couple of days to throw audio onto a PC. Also, just seeing wav files makes me reel. It's so... archaic, inefficient... Can't deal with it.

Cute move with the referral ID- doesn't hurt me any, though ;-)

Some results I've found:

iRiver H320 (can't find it anymore)
Truly MP310 (about $50 for 1GB, records to multiple quality MP3)
Creative Muvo Mico N200 (suggested above)

 

by: BarryTicePosted on 2007-06-18 at 15:06:11ID: 19311189

Uh, sorry about the referral. I just searched on Amazon for Creative Zen Nano and pasted the link that came up.

As for file size and sound quality, if you send an e-mail to the link in my profile, I can record a sample and mail it back to you.

-- b.r.t.

 

by: jmcgPosted on 2007-06-18 at 16:37:43ID: 19311938

The Insignia Video/MP3 players at Best Buy have a line-in jack and can take Micro-SD cards in addition to their built-in memory. I've read that the audio recording quality is top-notch, but can't vouch for it myself. No  built-in mike, but for the kind of recording you're talking about that would most likely be useless anyway.

At full retail, these players are probably outside the price range you mentioned. There are a couple of outfits (or maybe just one outfit with pseudonyms) selling store returns on eBay or direct -- admittedly in varying condition, but the one I got was in perfect working order -- typically for prices well under $100.

http://www.dealadeal.com/cart/select_item.cfm?cont=96245&view.htm

Direct-to-MP3 recorders that I'm aware of all cost considerably more. I think the starting point is something like the Roland/Edirol R-09:

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=757

These would undoubtedly do a better job for you, but it's a larger initial outlay (but as long as the units come back to you, you may well be able to re-sell them and not be out any more money in the long term).

 

by: lherrouPosted on 2007-06-19 at 06:33:10ID: 19315634

Molerner,

Those are some pretty impressive constraints. First you say "voice recording", then expand that to "audio quality ... good enough to be decent for solo singing". You want 2GB capacity, direct to MP3 (or similar), and all under $125. It's no shocker that you haven't found what you want.

I'm not being critical, I am just pointing out that maybe you need to re-think the criteria a little.

Cheers,
LHerrou

 

by: molernerPosted on 2007-06-19 at 13:27:31ID: 19319557

The quality of voice for solo singing does not need to be studio quality- 56kpbs MP3 is good enough here- people need to be able to recognize the tune

 

by: BarryTicePosted on 2007-06-20 at 11:51:57ID: 19327226

The Muvo I have, at 512 MB, has a 34-hour recording capacity when empty. That's a far cry from the 10 MB per minute size of a "normal" .wav file. Again, I'll be glad to send a sample recording file to you if that would help.

 

by: molernerPosted on 2007-06-20 at 20:36:16ID: 19330449

The Muvo is the primary one on my radar. It's been long enough, I think it's time to close the topic. Thanks BarryTice and jmcg!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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